Want to know my top list of essential things to remember the week of your wedding? The things that perhaps aren’t on lists, are easily forgotten and wish people had told you? Here’s my list of things to remember the week of your wedding!
Your Packing List
Staying at a hotel the night before the wedding? Decorating the reception yourself? Make a list! Work through every element of your day (from what you want to get ready in, your shoes, to your jewels to the pens for your guestbook). Create itemized lists and group items into boxes (i.e. this is all the decor for table one, or this box contains all the place cards, this box has all the accessories for the groom). Put those boxes out a few weeks before the wedding and add things as you remember them.
If you have a wedding planner, there should be a handover date where you hand over everything, decor wise. But if you’re planning on a hotel stay, you’ll still need to make sure you have a list with everything you need to take with you to make sure you don’t forget that carefully chosen perfume, or your prized earrings.
Photo by Todd Hunter Mcgaw via Rachel and Simon’s Chic Air Hangar Wedding
Your Wedding Day Schedule
Pull together your wedding day schedule and give a copy to those that need to know. Essential contacts (like your chief bridesmaid so you don’t have random phones calls to your parents), your celebrant, right down to musicians etc are a handy thing to include on your lists so if something happens they are easily contacted without you or your husband needing to be bothered. Planning loose timing (because buffers are good!) for events (i.e. Bride to be ready by X time, formal portraits to start at X time) help everyone know where they need to be when, and are particularly helpful for bridal party members and your photographers/cinematographers!
Your Overnight Bag
If there is one thing you don’t want to be doing (or actually, maybe you do? Make that wedding glow last longer!) it’s waking up the morning after your wedding day and realising that whoops, the only item of clothing you can wear home is.. your wedding dress! Don’t forget to pack a change of clothes for the day after the wedding (and don’t forget to plan how it gets to your hotel too – whether it stays with you all day or is dropped off by a friend or family member earlier in the day). If you are leaving on your honeymoon the next day, you might want to pack for this early too (because packing for a big trip the day after your wedding? Perhaps a recipe for forgetting essential things due to sheer exhaustion!).
Photo by Michelle Dellis Photography via Rachel and Sam’s Sweet Sydney Wedding
Confirming Vendors
If you don’t have a wedding planner to do this for you (which is a massive time saving in itself!), now is the time to get your phone on and check in with your vendors. Most – like your photographer will schedule meetings with you close to the day for a last minute “what’s going to happen on the day” run through (which is a good time to ensure you have a list of must have shots prepared and no I don’t mean “bride hugging father” and “First kiss”, I mean your formal photos and photos you don’t want to miss of anyone important like your great aunt Samantha).
But additionally, it is essential to check in with all of your vendors. From your makeup artist, to your caterer, to your florist to ensure everyone has the timings, locations, days and your booking correct! If you need help with setting up and decorating from your family and friends. now is a good time to brief everyone involved so you know and they know who does what, when.
Your Beauty Appointments
Planning a fake tan? A manicure? a pedicure? Don’t forget to pre book these so they’re set in stone for you to get there! Stick to treatments you’ve had before because it really is true what they say – trying new skincare products right before your wedding day, particularly if you have sensitive skin can sometimes go wrong.
Make Backups
On the same note, you never know when something’s going to wrong and the best way to avoid it is to have backups. So a copy of your first dance if you’re set on it being a particular version, another copy of your speech in a safe place, your vows. Anything that is crucially important to you!
Organise Food While You’re Getting Ready
Food is probably the last thing you’re thinking of on the morning of your wedding but with most ceremonies starting early afternoon – you’re going to need sustenance (and even if you’re too nervous to eat, your bridal party and family won’t be!). As a voter of the ‘taking stress off your plate option’, I vote to get a caterer or local bakery to deliver sandwiches, fruit platters and juice. But even whipping up a bunch of sandwiches the night prior to the wedding doesn’t take a lot of time and can make a difference between hungry, low blood sugar bridal parties who are merrily toasting away with champagne and a group that might have a little more sustenance in their bellies. If everyone is waking up together you might also think about stocking your house with extra coffee – or having someone do a coffee and breakfast run!
Photo by Mark at Gold Hat Photography via Linda and Pete’s Relaxed Evening Wedding
Wear Your Shoes
I have the biggest issue with shoes – I’m not sure I’ve ever had an amazingly comfortable pair! The week (and months) before your wedding are a good chance to wear your shoes in and figure out if you need party feet, heel shields or blister blocks for any part of your foot on your wedding day (standing 10-12 hours in shoes is sure to make anyone’s feet die of pain). This goes for the groom, groomsmen and bridesmaids too. Softening up the leather and making sure your workhorse shoes are comfortable is a must do. Worried? Pack flats for your reception.
Prepare Your Speech & Give It To A Safe Keeper
Chances are you might have already prepared your speech earlier, but if you plan on making one, now is a good time to start it. Don’t forget when it’s completed to pass it over to a member of your bridal party or your family so they can hold onto it until you need it (because there’s one thing you’ll forget!). If you are writing your own vows and need to bring them with you, make sure you hand these over too!
Get Your Jewels Cleaned
If there is one thing that deserves a bit of sparkle on your wedding day it’s what started it all – your engagement ring! Take it to your jeweler just before your wedding and get it cleaned so it’s free of washing up grit and grime and looks as good as new for your wedding day.
It’s Time To Let It Go
I read a tip recently that couple should pretend their wedding is a week earlier than it is – I love this. There are some little things you might not be able to do until the week before the day (like wedding rehearsals or beauty appointments) but on the whole, try and plan as little as possible the week of the wedding. You’ll have guests flying in, a lot of anticipation and buzz – enjoy it! Watch your favourite wedding movies, get a manicure, have lunch out together and relax!
What did you wish someone had told you to do the week before your wedding? What did no one tell you that you learned?
As a mother of the bride i found this a great site. Victoria occasions have linked us to some wonderful ideas and hints..thankyou